Step 1: Backup everything!

The first thing you want to do is backup all files within your Joomla! installation. Create a folder on your local system, and download all files to that folder using your ftp client application. I used FileZilla as my ftp client application to download all of my files to a folder on my desktop I named “howtojoomla”.

Step 2: Export your database

Note: For this step, it really helps if you have phpMyAdmin installed on your server. Most hosting companies have phpMyAdmin already installed. If you are unsure, ask your hosting provider.

The second thing you need to do is export your Joomla! database. The best thing to do is to export it into an SQL file, which makes importing it easier in a later step. An SQL file will contain all of the necessary SQL commands for creating your database tables and filling them with your data. Be sure you export the entire database.

14) Add user (should be same username and password of your old DB), and host

15) Select Grant all privileges…

16) Next to Global Privileges, click Check All to check all the privileges.

17)

Step 3: Modify configuration.php

This step is very important. Go to the folder on your local system to which you downloaded all of your Joomla! files. In the first level folder, you will find the file named “configuration.php”. Open this file with a text editor and make the necessary changes. Your variables may be different, so find the variables that contain these settings and change them. At the very least, you will probably need to change the following parameters:

$mosConfig_absolute_path: This is the absolute server path to your new Joomla! installation. It will probably look something like “/path/to/joomla/installation”.

$mosConfig_cachepath: This is the absolute server path to the cache for your Joomla! installation. It will probably look something like “/path/to/joomla/installation/cache”.

$mosConfig_live_site: This is your website’s url. It will be something like “http://www.yoursite.com”.

$mosConfig_host: This is the location of the server that hosts your MySQL database. For most instances, this value will be “localhost”. If you are unsure, ask your hosting provider.

$mosConfig_db: This is the name of your MySQL database.

$mosConfig_user: This is the database user name. Make sure this user has all privileges on your database.

$mosConfig_password: This is the password for your MySQL database user.

Step 4: Upload all of your files to your new server

Using an ftp client application (like FileZilla), upload all of your files to the location on your new server where you want to install Joomla!.

Step 5: Test your new installation

Your move should now be complete, but please don’t take my word for it. Test your site to make sure that everything is in it’s proper place and working the way you expect it to. For example, if you did not use relative url’s for your links on your old site, they will not work properly on your new site.